Exceptional, Large, Himalayan Silver Butter Lamp Overlaid with Gold

This large-sized and very elegant silver butter lamp is of beaten and cast solid silver, with chased and repoussed motifs, as well as applique work, much of which is thickly overlaid with gold. The silver is almost pure and so the lamp is noticeably heavy.

It is an outstanding example for its size, fineness, and its unusual form, and would have been an expensive and generous commission by a wealthy donor to an important monastery or temple.

It has a wide, flared foot, and a wide bowl, and in between a complex baluster-form stem that includes a double cascading border of lotus petals in unusually high relief, two flattened spheres decorated with parcel-gilt flower and phoenix motifs, and an inverted tetrahedron or four-sided pyramid chased with flower vase motifs which support dishes of auspicious Buddhist symbols marked out in gold.

The large bowl is decorated with Eight Precious Things of Himalayan Buddhism. Each item sits atop a beautifully rendered peony, each of which rises from a finely engraved lotus bloom which decorates the underside of the bowl. Each Precious Thing is highlighted in gold. Each of the eight items is the Precious Parasol, the White Conch Shell, the Two Golden Fish, the Knot of Eternity, the Vase of Great Treasures, the Victory Banner, the Lotus Flower, and the Eight Spoked Wheel.

The rim of the bowl and foot and edges elsewhere are decorated with ‘pearled’ silver wire.

Indeed the unusual form and the quality of the silverwork and gilding suggests that the lamp might be from Bhutan, although Tibet remains a possibility.

It would have been used on an altar, filled to the brim with yak butter oil in which a single wick floated.

The baluster-form stem is richly cast with cascading, fine lotus petal decoration in unusually high relief.

The form of Himalayan butter lamps is similar to the chalice used in the Christian liturgy. Before Buddhism became established in Tibet, the Tibetan elite were exposed to various external religions including Zoroastrianism from Persia, Islam and Christianity. By the 700s followers of the heretic archbishop of Constantinople Nestorius (later, they became known as Nestorians) had established themselves among the Christians of Persia and then they spread eastwards along the various trade routes collectively known as the Silk Road, and into China (Douglas, 2020, p. 74). They flourished under the Tang Dynasty but also made inroads into Tibet. It is possible that from the Nestorians, the form of their liturgical chalices influenced the form of the the yak butter lamp. As well as having similar forms, both the Christian chalice and the yak butter lamp are placed on altars.

The lamp here is in excellent condition and is without any losses, dents or repairs. It is a sculptural, impressive piece, and it sits solidly without rocking.

It is the finest such lamp we have seen.